Organised and run by the Rodney Off Road Club, the Ahuroa 4WD trip is a fundraiser for the Ahuroa Volunteer Fire Brigade. NZ4WD’s Ashley Lucas attended this year’s and filed this report.
Story and photo by Ashley Lucas
Ahuroa is a small community in the Rodney district with Puhoi to the south-east and Warkworth to the north east with the northern railway line passing through the area.
These days the area is mixture of farming and forestry and the area offers some good four wheeling with views of the Kaipara from high vantage points.
Event base is at the Ahuroa Volunteer Rural Fire Station where the fire volunteers look after the hospitality and catering in the station house.
With over two months of no rainfall it was shaping up to be a good weekend until the Friday when it rained all day and into Saturday morning. The members of the Rodney Off Road Club (RORC) were out Friday checking the tracks and struggling on some of the steeper ones so come Saturday morning there was a delayed start.
Event organiser, Nigel England along with Ahuroa Chief Fire Officer Alastair Todd provided a briefing and advised the start was delayed until 11.00am when club members would be back after sorting out what could be salvaged in the wet conditions.
It was 10.30am when the fire siren called everyone to the station again. The rain was easing, so participants would be divided into two groups and led by Club members. Both groups would do the same tracks but group A would go to the play area first.
Follow the leader
Our group led by Peter Cress in his Range Rover headed east and onto farm land. The rain had eased to very light showers but cloud even though reducing through the day, still hid some of the views. On one property an area had recently been ploughed and was to be planted the following week. The farmer allowed us to have a play in this area. There was some dirt flying which resulted in trenches been made ready for planting the spuds on Monday.
Continuing cross country and on back roads we entered a forest block driving the ridge lines. The tracks were lined with Toetoe bushes restricting views in places which is probably just as well as we would have seen how steep the drop offs were over the side. As the forest had been harvested there were no restricted views from trees and at certain vantage points we had good views of the surrounding area. We stopped at one high point and could see the Kaipara Harbour. One narrow ridge we travelled was over the top of a northern railway line tunnel. Either side you looked you could see the rail line winding through the valley.
Our group wound its way back to base at the fire station where through the paddocks over the road there were a couple of play areas to challenge one and all. Despite the rain, the ground was still very hard and the gully not overly wet. Still it was challenging enough for some coming down. Once that was mastered it was who could get up the rutted gully. Peter Cress was the first in his Range Rover V8 although it took some rocking to get over the final step.
In places the ground was rock hard and potential axle breaking terrain if a wheel bounced too much which is exactly what happened to Amber Munford in her 1972 ex NZ Army Land Rover Skippy.
Back at the fire station the fire brigade had prepared a huge meal for everyone and the bar was open. Sponsors had provided quite a wide range of products and these were raffled off with the first draw getting first pick. A special auction was held for an iDrive from Petroject NZ Ltd which plugs into your vehicle allowing you to control the throttle responses, especially good for driving off road over varying terrain.
But wait, there’s more!
Next morning again the Ahuroa fire volunteers were up and preparing breakfast for everyone and a huge breakfast it was too. Those country folk certain know how to feed the masses.
The weather was still fine so we would get to do some of the tracks originally cancelled on Saturday. Even then some of the steep parts were still a little slippery in places and caution was required. We could even see where the RORC members had ‘fun’ checking out the tracks on Friday in the rain.
There were a few little ‘incidents’ from the weekend and one was when the rear wheel of Paul Curin’s GU Nissan Patrol broke through a small farm bridge. He was able to back out OK, but the bridge wasn’t going to be useable. Fortunately the farmer had placed pipes and several logs in the creek beside the bridge to get his digger across. With the use of a chainsaw and replacement of some of the logs and branches we soon had a suitable crossing for the vehicles with each vehicle guided through.
True story
The fundraising for the Ahuroa Volunteer Fire Brigade originally came about when members of the RORC were out for the day in the area and Gail England needed to use a toilet. As they went past the old fire station the brigade was outside the building.
Gordon and Gail stopped and asked to use the toilet. The only toilet in those days was a long drop out the back of the station not really suitable for ladies and this sent the firemen running around ‘cleaning up’ to allow Gail to use the facility.
Afterwards they were all chatting and Gordon and Gail decided to see what the RORC could do to assist the volunteer rural brigade. As they say, the rest is history and from those small beginnings in 2003 well over $100,000 been raised over the years. The Station even has a plaque with the amounts raised each year.
And last year Gordon and Gail England were made honorary members of the Ahuroa Volunteer Fire Brigade in recognition of their achievements for the Station.
Back at the Station there was that much food left over that once again we were being fed before packing up, inflating tyres and heading home. While the weekend will be remembered for the rain, it will also be remembered for the hospitality, the friendliness and social atmosphere that comes from these events.
To read the full story in the May 2019 issue of NZ4WD go to Zinio.com (April 22) or purchase your own hard copy at the Adrenalin store
